How in the hell did we get here

[sorrybushisfromtexas]

I’m a 70 year old lifetime Democrat who can’t go to sleep tonight worrying about our world’s condition. As a 41 yr teacher, I worry about what kind of world and country that we Boomers are leaving for my grandchildren and for the thousands of students I have taught over the last Four decades.
I was a Vietnam protestor that married anA Air Force brat, her father was career Airforce. Over our 47 year marriageI have seen her change from a a blind patriot to seeing what has happened to our beloved nation. She is a proud liberal but not quite as far left as me.
We were both Science teachers and realize that our planet is at the place of no return. We grieve for the future of our grandchildren. We grieve that the Church that we grew up in has become a place of bigotry and hate. I literally get sick to my stomach when I hear our nation’s leader speak. I will not call him President because he is a mockery of that title.
I will not give up however , my grandchildren, my children, and the majority of students that I taught science to believe in climate change, LBGT rights, the plight of refugees, Dreamers, and women’s rights. They also recognize the Republican Party is simply evil.

We must fight climate change and come together to vote the evil out of power. We must come together as one and vote for the Democratic nominee even if it is not the one we personally want. All ages seniors, middle aged, 30’s, 20’s, and teens have to become one voice and rise together to vote this evil joker out!

I am an aging hippy full of the Audacity of Hope in the reddest county in Texas.

[greyl]

1. K and Fn R nt

[Roy Rolling]

2. For Historical Comparison

This feels like when Nixon won in 1972 over George McGovern. The non-exploiters were crestfallen over the prospects of four more years in Vietnam.

Only Nixon’s resignation and Carter’s election put us back on-track morally.

It’s gonna take the entire younger generations to mobilize, it’s their planet now that Nixon-ite ideologues my age have stolen power again.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

3. K&R. Thanks for sharing.

Your story speaks for many of us here and in many ways.......

Proud to have a daughter that's a reading teacher in a public school and a wife that was a teacher's assistant!

KY (child of '47)...........

[kentuck]

4. I have come to believe there is good and bad in the world.

Sometimes we see the best in people and sometimes we see the worst.

It has created a divide in this country.

Party labels are meaningless. There are more important matters.

There is a larger battle going on.

It seems there are two forces at work, one working for sheer power and ego. The other working with humility for a better humanity.

Best wishes from one hippie to another...


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[handmade34]

5. one reason we got here

is that are not enough good teachers (and administrations) like you... thank you!

either people weren't taught or have lost any sense of critical thinking

[Boomer]

6. I can't echo your optimism

I'm just a few years younger than you are and I'm relieved that I'll be checking soon because things are going to get a lot grimmer. Realistically speaking, there's no light at the end of the tunnel. The effects of our current carbon emissions will last for thousands of years, so the climate mechanisms we've set in motion won't stabilize, much less reverse, for at least ten thousand years.

The impact of climate-related damage will de-stabilize global economies as the cost continues an upward trajectory. We will quite literally not be able to afford to fix the damage. Our infrastructure will continue to crumble, populations will shifts inwards from the coasts and be pummeled as the interior floods or dries up. Agricultural yields will drop, triggering famines. Political systems will mutate in unpredictable (but mostly unpleasant) ways to control the chaos.

Ocean ecosystems are already collapsing, the extinction of land species will accelerate.

This time, right now, is as good as it's going to get. Savor it now, while you still can, because it's all downhill from here.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

7. "the reddest county in Texas"? Yikes, that must be a joy. Lemme guess: ...

Lubbock?



San Antonio and El Paso seemed fairly "normal" when I was there.

[Fyrefox]

8. Inconvenient truths

Trumpers hate inconvenient truths, and so while denying science as a "hoax" have also installed radical conservatives into local school boards across the nation to disparage teachers and their unions and portray educated people as "elitists" lacking in "common sense" which they feel that they possess in abundance.

[wendyb-NC]

9. Thank you for sharing you thoughts on how things are in the country.

I absolutely agree with you, I am 65, a life time democrat, and never in my lifetime, could I possibly have imagined the surreal, nightmare, called the trump presidency. When I heard on the radio that he'd had won the presidency, in 2016, I was shocked. I voted for Hillary, expecting her to win. I was turned off by his out of balance campaign, soothsayer medicine show tactics and the caustic jabs, and ultra negative view of President Obama and Hillary Clinton, caused me to be too optimistic about the out come of the election. I couldn't imagine how any sane person would vote for him.

His presidency has been an ordeal, but I am a witness to it. I fear for my children and grand children's well being and future,too. This has caused me to feel outrage like never before. The time between now and the next election can't get here fast enough. Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a dystopian thriller. I also, feel motivated to do all I can to change the current direction in which we as a nation are going in a grass roots way.

There was much be done in this country, before this guy took office, but now he is destroying any progress that had been made. He is also trashing everything that is good and decent about this nation. He is destroying the planet, seeking to divide the citizenry, weakening protections, for People of Color, the LGBTQ community, immigrants, refugees especially the children, the Native people who were here before any of us rolling back environmental standards, for clean air, soil, water, and endangered species act, and habitat protections. etc. The Republican party is also the problem. Their years of spite, have prevented progress through normal legislation.
They all need to loose big in 2020, go home and never come back.

Yes, we must, unite for the good of the country and vote for the democratic nominee, and get others to do so. I believe it is our only hope.
Thank you for letting me rant.